Dawn of Peace
by the stargate time traveller
Summary: Set after The Undiscovered Country, Kirk is alone is his quarters and muses on the Klingons and the prospective peace. Spoilers for the movie and for episodes in the TV series.


**Disclaimer - Don't own Star Trek, I very much regret to say. Feedback welcome.**

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Well, civilisation had been saved, all was right in the Universe. The Khitomer conference had been a big success even if a high ranking Starfleet officer, one of the most respected in the service for his strength and skills, had been involved with others as part of a massive conspiracy to prevent peace between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire. As he rested on the bunk in his cabin, James T. Kirk had time to think, and to recover; his body wasn't what it was as the years had gone by, and the realisation that a few years ago when he'd saved Earth from that probe he'd have been better able to weather Rura Penthe than he was now didn't make him feel any better.

His limbs still ached from the cold of the penal asteroid that served as one of the most brutal places in Klingon space, and his muscles ached with the memory of the fights he'd had in the place. That alien with the genitals in his knee area hadn't been the only one, but one of a few. Bone's had done his best to patch him up, but by the time Martia had taken them out, his body still felt physically sore. It had been a fight and a half to keep up with the treacherous Chameloid, and Bones's melodrama couldn't have come at a worst time. Kirk, determined to forget about the prison he'd briefly stayed in, cast an eye around his cabin; everything he owned from antique books, souvenirs gathered from his years as captain of the Enterprise, was now packed and ready to move. He hadn't had a lot in here for this mission anyway, only a few remaining momentos to give the place a homely touch. He felt sad that he would never again live in this cabin, but he felt so old and so tired that he couldn't bring himself to care that much. He just wanted to enjoy his retirement and a well earned rest. But his mind didn't want to go to sleep.

His mind was on the Klingons.

Of all the alien races he'd encountered over the years, it was always his meetings with the Klingons which had brought out his prejudiced attitude, and he knew he wasn't the only one who felt prejudiced against the species as a whole. Kirk had never seen himself as a bigot, in fact it went against everything that the Federation and Starfleet stood for. What was the point of meeting new life forms if you were just going to judge them for how they lived their lives, or how they ate in public? But for decades the Klingon Empire and the Federation had been enemies.

Territory, trade, you were doing this behind our backs, you came here, you were looking for a fight...you name it, arguments like that had been going for the past seventy years, though the true disdain the Klingons had for the Federation went far deeper than that. Many in Starfleet and in the Federation credited and admired Jonathan Archer for his achievements; saving the Earth from the Xindi wasn't a mean feat, but bringing Earth's alien neighbors together, forcing them to push their disagreements away and become a part of something better.

THAT was an achievement. The only problem was the First Contact with the Klingons. If Archer had simply let the Vulcans handle the mess where that courier had been chased across the sector by a gang of Suliban, maybe the Klingons wouldn't have gunned for humanity, but truthfully the Klingons had always spoiled for a fight. It was probably inevitable the Klingons would clash with Earth's early explorers when Warp drive was properly developed to the point it could take people further than just a few measly light years. Relations with the Klingons had always been a seesaw; one day the Klingons could be honorable and even respectful, generous, and even on another day they might regress into bloodthirsty savages waiting for an excuse to murder whoever strolled into their line of sight. Despite having a bit of faith since Azetbur and the other Klingons had seen for themselves the effects of the conspiracy to make things worse for their people, Kirk still felt a little wariness about the whole thing. Just because one conference went well didn't mean the rest of the empire would be as accepting.

John Gill had known a bit of Klingon history, and had regaled his students about the Hur'Q invasion that Qo'nos had endured; how an alien race had attacked and ravaged the Klingon homeworld, stole some of their most sacred relics like the Sword of Kahless, decimating the planet and its people. The Klingons had fought back, of course, and eventually their attitude had become cold and suspicious towards alien races. Kirk understood the Klingon psyche in that corner and why Gill, one of the finest historians in the Federation, had even told his students about it so then they could see why the Klingons behaved the way they did, and he didn't doubt if the human race had been conquered in the past, then the same thing might've happened there. He could lie and claim humans were not like the Klingons, but he would be lying.

As much as he and other humans, and Klingons, hated to admit it to himself, when you got down to it there were so many similarities between humans and Klingons; both aggressive, both sometimes incredibly arrogant, both expanded daily, both had bloody histories with terrible atrocities to remember for all time, but where the Klingons were only too happy to stay conquerors humanity just wanted to explore. And yet the prejudices between both races continued, and other races were relegated to the sidelines on occasion. Seriously, what did Spock expect when he and Sarek had decided to take advantage of Praxis' destruction a few months ago to open negotiations with Gorkon? Even half drunk with Romulan ale, Kirk had been aware of how disturbed and upset the Vulcan was with everyone after that dinner display, and that appalling lack of manners, though even the Klingons hadn't exactly been Politically Correct, or diplomatic themselves.

But what was he expecting? Did he really think his human colleagues would be friendly towards the Klingons after everything they'd done? Had he imagined that Kirk, McCoy, Chekov and the others would suddenly forget the almost continuous stream of news that came in of new and more bloody atrocities at the hands of the Klingons? Had the Vulcan forgotten all those ships and crews who'd been lost at the hands of a Klingon commander? What about all those colonies that had been raided, people tortured simply because the Klingons had felt like it?

Had Spock simply forgotten all those times diplomatic overtures with the empire had just fizzled out as suddenly as they'd been sent off, and war seemed inevitable before something changed the equation? Spock had seen the destruction the Klingons had caused himself; as a Starfleet officer, he'd sometimes been dragged away from the Science labs on the Enterprise, and forced to see for himself the kind of devastation the Klingons left behind in their wake, he knew how David had been stabbed by one of Kruge's officers, knew how Carol had been injured in a recent attack, and yet he'd manipulated the situation for - what? Him to accept Klingons. Unlikely. Well, actually that wasn't quite true; Kirk had met Klingons who didn't exactly live up to their races reputation for brutality, even if they had been warriors themselves.

Look at Kor; he'd been made Governor of Organia before the Organians had revealed what they really were, and that the Klingons and the Federation were out of their league, but Kor had been intelligent, and he'd even been gently spoken despite any brutal acts he committed. Koloth had a sense of humor, and he had definitely cared about his crew during that incident with Cyrano Jones and the Tribbles on K7. But Gorkon... Things had changed when Kirk had first met Gorkon. There had been something in the chancellor he'd instinctively liked, it was similar to the way he'd known Captain Klaa and General Koord; Klaa might have shot at him and the Enterprise, but the young Klingon officer had been likable enough once you got under the surface.

But with Gorkon...

Kirk hadn't been sure of him, not at first. Gorkon had been...mild compared to other Klingons he'd met, in fact his manner somehow reminded him of Kang, though Kang had still been a warrior, but he'd still been fairly reasonable and even personable when dealing with the mess that weird entity which was forcing both their crews to fight to the brink of death. That occasion had forced Kirk to see just how prejudiced some of his crew were towards Klingons; Chekov's attempted rape of Mara didn't count, the Russian officer had been driven mad by the entity's presence thanks to the man's loathing of Klingons. And yet Kirk had never done anything to quell the prejudice, and truthfully he hadn't wanted to since everyone in the Federation was entitled to an opinion. Spock had trusted the Chancellor, but Kirk had still been nursing the rage he'd felt when he'd heard of the recent Klingon attacks, to say nothing about what had happened to Carol.

It had dredged up memories of David and what had happened to him on the Genesis planet. It wasn't just David - what about all those other deaths, the countless millions killed by the Klingons? Dozens of starships had been lost, destroyed in the conflict with the Federation at their hands. Kirk admired his friend for trying to make people move forwards, he really did, but it was unlikely to be simple.

He was ashamed of the way he and his senior staff had acted when the Klingons had come to that fiasco of a dinner before Gorkon's murder, but he blamed the Romulan ale. And Lieutenant Valeris. Thinking of Valeris made Kirk think about the conspiracy that had slowly appeared. It was painful that a group of Klingons and Starfleet officers, maybe even civilians, had come together to prevent peace. He could understand Klingons, especially warriors like Chang and the crew of that Bird of Prey, not wanting peace with the Federation.

Many of the more conservative Klingons would've wanted to die fighting, like warriors, afraid that if they didn't then they'd be forgotten. Their home world was being threatened by a deadly orbit that had danger of ridding their planet of oxygen, who would they fight?! But for Starfleet officers sworn to uphold and protect the Federation to betray everything they believed in was nothing short of painful, and he had no idea how Chancellor Azetbur felt about the Klingons who'd betrayed her father and conspired to kill him simply because he hadn't chosen to fight. Kirk hadn't realised the full extent of how far the conspiracy was going to go until that farce of a trial, when his personal log started playing. It was then he'd realised the conspirators had either bugged his quarters, hoping to find something incriminating for their cause, and they'd struck gold when he'd blundered unknowingly into their trap. It was worse for Spock, Valeris was his former protege, much like Saavik. But that log recording had really made the whole hope for peace crack even more; for Azetbur and the other Klingons who came to that dinner, to have to know Kirk had said such things in the privacy of his room had probably been murder, though they'd probably thought the same of him. Kirk wasn't stupid; he knew his reputation in the Klingon empire, knew how the ambassador, former ambassador, in this case since he was a confirmed member of the conspiracy had told the then President there would be no peace between the Federation and the Klingons if he still lived.

That was too extreme; Kirk had been honored many times by various Klingons from Kang to General Koord, so the ambassador was probably blowing steam. Thinking of the other conspirators, Kirk knew Admiral Cartwright had lost crewmembers when he was captain himself to the Klingons before the Organian peace treaty, but wouldn't he feel better knowing a peaceful settlement would save lives rather than plunge the empire and the Federation into a terrible war? Kirk sighed, hoping to silence his thoughts. He just wanted to get some sleep, and listen to any news that might come from the conference.

He'd spent an hour with a few admirals from the conference, and on Earth there was a lot of noise about the conspiracy, and he needed his rest. He wanted to leave the Enterprise fully rested. But it was hard; fortunately his cabin was warmer than Rura Penthe, a place he'd never wanted to go in his life. But he couldn't shake his head out of the thoughts that had been plaguing him since Gorkon's murder.

He'd told Spock the chancellor had needed to die before he'd seen for himself how prejudiced he was, and he was; he'd acted badly in front of the chancellor, his advisors, his daughter, but that wasn't the first time. What about during that mess on Organia? He and Spock had journeyed there at great risk to prevent the Klingons from capturing a strategically placed planet so close to their borders, where they'd have enslaved and subjugated a primitive looking race, and in the end he and Kor had argued like spoilt brats in front of their despairing parents. Ayelborne's words still haunted Kirk. "To kill millions of innocent people? To destroy life on a planetary scale? Is that what your defending?" Or what about that mess on Capella IV where Lieutenant Grant was killed because he saw that Klingon officer? Were people truly that hateful towards the Klingons, were they really that cowardly to think they were stronger because of their values whilst discounting the good parts of the Klingons? Kirk had seen how generous Klingons could act, how merciful and courageous. Yet he'd seen how dark they could be, vicious and callous towards those they conquered and destroyed.

Spock was right, this was a historic opportunity, and yet it might have been wasted by everyone's fears. Gorkon had known from the off that his hopes for peace wouldn't be well received, which was why he called the future "the undiscovered country." Kirk knew time would tell, it would be a hard struggle, and the Khitomer conference hadn't completely inaugurated peace with the Klingon Empire, but it was a start. Finally, after all that wrangling he fell asleep.

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What do you think?


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